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Why Whole Milk is Important for Babies

That time when your child is between 1-2 years old is the prime time to push the whole milk. Children between 1-3 years old need 700 milligrams of calcium per day. If they get that all from whole milk, that’s 2.5 cups! Here are some of the many great benefits to whole milk for babies from 1-2 years old:

Calcium and Vitamin D: It’s pretty common knowledge that milk contains calcium and vitamin D, but these minerals and vitamins are essential in building strong bones in your child.

Dietary Fats: Your child needs these nutritious higher fat content foods for normal growth and brain development. Did you know that 80% of your child’s brain development happens before the age of 2?

Protein: Protein helps build strong muscles as your child grows into an active toddler, not to mention the many other essential nutrients found in whole milk.

Choosing organic whole milk ensures your child is getting the best nutrition possible. No pesticides or added hormones means your child is getting the most consistent and healthy option for their milk intake.

It makes me feel good every time my son says ‘ka’ (our son’s reference to milk) and reaches for his milk. I know he’s getting excellent nutrition!

Terry

03/27/2014, 14:53:17

Please stop perpetuating the outright untruthful marketing campaign developed by decades of Congressional lobbying and multi-million dollar advertising by the dairy industry. Cow’s milk is the perfect food for baby calves, and is NOT the best nutrition possible for human infants/toddlers.

The milk of any species was designed for one purpose only — to feed its young. The level of the protein casein in cows’ milk is 300 times higher than in human breast milk, which is predominantly made up of the protein lactalbumin, which is easily digestible by babies. Nature has designed the milk of each animal species specifically to meet the needs of its young. Casein is intended to be broken down by the four stomach digestive system of baby cows. In human stomachs, it coagulates and forms large, tough, dense, difficult to digest curds.

According to Frank Oski, MD, former Director, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief, the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, “The fact is: the drinking of cow milk has been linked to iron-deficiency anemia in infants and children; it has been named as the cause of cramps and diarrhea in much of the world’s population, and the cause of multiple forms of allergy as well; and the possibility has been raised that it may play a central role in the origins of atherosclerosis and heart attacks.”

Dr. Oski cites a “study of over twenty thousand infants conducted in Chicago as far back as the 1930s… The overall death rate for the babies raised on human milk was 1.5 deaths per 1,000 infants while the death rate in the babies fed cow milk was 84.7 per 1,000 during the first nine months of life. The death rate from gastrointestinal infections was forty times higher in the non-breast-fed infants, while the death rate from respiratory infections was 120 times higher. An earlier analysis involving infants in eight American cities showed similar results. Infants fed on cow milk had a twenty times greater chance of dying during the first six months of life.”

And according to Dr. Christiane Northrup, “Dairy is a tremendous mucus producer and a burden on the respiratory, digestive and immune systems.” When patients “eliminate dairy products for an extended period and eat a balanced diet, they suffer less from colds and sinus infections.”

Human infants take about 180 days to double their birth weight on human milk which is 5 to 7 percent protein. Calves require only 45 days to double their birth weight on cow’s milk, which is 15 percent protein.

Cindy

03/27/2014, 14:57:21

It would be great if you could mention that for breastfeeding families human milk is still the most important milk for babies 1-2 years old. I’m surprised that stonyfield leaves that out. The World Health Organization is clear that optimal nutrition includes continuing breastfeeding to at least two years of age and thereafter for as long as mother and baby desire.

Whole cows milk is great and this is not a formula vs breastfeeding debate, (every parent should have a choice) but human milk is scientifically normative and “the best nutrition possible”, not whole cows milk, even from a yummy organic brand like Stonyfield.